Free-wheel drive for cycles.



G. HENRY.

FREE WHEEL DRIVE'FORCYCLES.

APPLICATION FILED Nov. 28, leu.

Patented Sept, 10, 1918.

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GASTON HENRY, 0F PARIS, FRANCE.

FREE-WHEEL DRIVE FOR CYCLES.

Application filed November 28, 1917. Serial No. 204,431.

To all whom t may concern.

Be it known that I, GASTON HENRY, a citizen of the Republic of France,and a resident of 159mv Boulevard Montparnasse,

Paris, France, have invented new and useful Improvements in or Relatingto F ree-Wheel Drives for Cycles, of which the following is aspecification. p

The present invention relates to an arrangement applicable to bicyclesand enabling a coaster or free-wheel drive to be changed, when desired,into a fixed wheel drive and vice versa, without dismounting from themachine and by lpedaling in one direction or in the other.

This arrangement consists of a male cone fast to the fixed portion ofthe free-wheel pinion, and of a female cone, fast to the loose part ofthis free-wheel pinion, the male cone being capable of being engaged inthe female Cone or of being disengaged from the latter according as itis wished to employ fixed-wheel drive or free-wheel drive.

In accordance with the invention, a plate sharing in the movement ofrotation of the loose portion of the free-wheel pinion, can, by screwingitself or unscrewing itself upon ay threaded socket, progressively causethe male cone to approach to or separate from the female cone, in such away as to clutch or declutch these two cones, the said screwthreadedsocket, normally loose, being capable of being momentarily heldstationary so as to permit the screwing of the plate in one direction orin the other, according as the rider pedals forward or back-pedals.

This socket is immobilized, at the desired moment, by a rod whichengages with one of the claws or ratchet teeth of a disk fast to thissocket, when the cyclist back-pedals, in such a way as to pass fromfree-wheel drive to fixed-wheel drive, while in order to obtain theopposite result, the cyclist pedals forward and, by acting upon ahand-control device, situated within reach of his hand, brings this rodinto engagement with another claw or ratchet tooth of the disk, nearerthan the others Yto the axis of rotation of this disk. f A

In the annexed drawings, Figure 1 is a view in vertical section throughthe axis of the clutch device. Fig.- 2 is a vertical section on line 2-2of Fig.l. Fig?) is a side elevation, on a diierent scale, of the devicefor immobilizing the threaded socket.

The female cone is shown at a and is integral with the loose portion orring a1 of the free-wheel pinion; the male cone o, arranged interiorlyof the first and made fast with the fixed part a2 of the free-wheelpinion (screwed upon a cup or sleeve a3 in its turn screwed upon the hubat) by means of a crown c which is fast with the ring-mount a5 of thefree pinion and engages by means of the projections c1 in notches b1 ofcorre sponding shape in the male cone Z); the latter thus participatesin the movement of rotation of the hub of the wheel.

Upon the female cone a is fixed by means of studs (Z1, a plate clscrewed upon a dowel or socket e, screw-threaded exteriorly, which isitself screwed upon a second socket el with screw-threads diderent fromthose of the rst-mentioned socket; the two sockets thus joined togetherform only one, the plate d and the crown c being held between a disk e2fast with the socket e1, at the rear, and a disk f fast with the sockete at the front. This socket is maintained in place by one of the arms ofthe fork g1 of the frame which carries the wheel, by the washer g2 andthe nut g3 screwed upon the axle g of the wheel, and by a washer ordistance piece g4.

The socket e e1 normally participates in the movement of rotation of thefree-wheel pinion, being driven by the plate d which is screwed thereonand is fast with the loose part al of the free-wheel pinion; when it iswished to bring the male cone b nearer to or away from the female conea, the plate d has to be screwed up or unscrewed from the 'socket e el,the latter having to be held stationary for this purpose, so that thisplate d will be able to act upon the male cone and tighten it, andprogressively wedge it into the female cone a or render it progressivelyfree, according to whether the plate is screwed toward the left ortoward the right (Fig. l).

In order to hold the socket e el stationary, I may, by way of example,make use of the following arrangement (Fig. 3); upon one of the arms g1of the'frame-fork is supported by straps or hangers h1 71,1 a rod zfhaving at its rear end a beak h2 arranged in the ver tical plane ofrotation of the disk f, which latter is fast with the socket e; thisdisk f is furnished with two notches affording spurs or ratchet teeth f1and a third notch with tooth f2, the latterA being nearer to the axis ofthe disk f than the two others and arranged ata Vdistance from this axissuch that when pedaling takes place in the forward direction (arrow.this tooth f2 does not strike the beak h2 of the rod h if the latter isleft to its own weight.

The drawing shows the arrangement at the moment when the pinion allowsfree wheeling to take place; the disk f rotated with the plate Z and theloose part al ofthe free-wheel pinion, does not engage or hook, duringits rotation, thebeak h2 of the rod h by means of its beak f2; thelteeth f1 depress a little the beak h2 of the rod 7L, but the latterresumes its'normal position (shown in full lines) by sliding in itssupporting and guiding straps h1. `When the cyclist wishes to lock lthepinion in order to have a'fiXed wheel drive (for instance down a hill,when he wishes to lbrake through the pedaling gear), it is su'iicient t0back-pedal; lthe disk fby its movementof rotation inthe direction of thearrow y (Fig. 3), strikes by means of one of the lteeth f, the beak h2of the rod It and is thus stopped; in order to avoid a too abrupt stop,I preferably arrange a coil spring h3 around the rod 71, between thefront strap h1 and a shoulder h4 of the rod it so that this latter can,under Ethe shock, move slightly forwardly from rear, vbeing-guided byits slot h5 and a pin it, but returns to its first position under theaction of the spring; the shoulder z.4t which abuts against the rearstrap k1 limits the rearward movement. The disk f andconsequentlythe-socket e e1 are thus immobilized 'while Ikthe plate Z continues toturn; thev cyclist by continuing to `backpedal, screws the Vplate elupon the socket e from kright to left (Fig. 1) ,this plate brings themaleV cone l) tothe female cone a and thus effects ya progressivewedging, -until the lockingy action 'is complete. rIhe pinion thereuponaffords a ffiXed wheel drive and the cyclist can then so Suse it bypedaling forward yin the usual way.

In order vto return to free-wheel drive, it is only necessary to liftthe rod 71; slightly (byacting upon a small Shand device or griparranged within reach and controlling this rodbbya cable 71,7)continuing to pedal forward; the tooth f2 of thefdisk f turning in thedirection ofthe arrow then strikes the beak h2 of the rod h (positionshown in dotted lines in Fig. 3); the disk f and consequently thevsocket e e1 are locked; vthe plate l continuing to turn, :is unscrewedlfrom left to right (Fig. l) upon the socket c, thus progressivelydeclutchin-gv the two cones a and b, so that without jerk or shock,freewheel drive is fresumed. When the plate d is .entirely unscrewed,that is to say has re turned Ito .the end of its travel l'towardtherightw'(position shown on the drawing) ithe cyclist ,releases I:the.controlling device for the rod fso that the rod Ik no longer imla. orstop .the movement ofV the pedal gear;

of the free-wheel pinion, in the direction of Y ythe arrow m, the teethf1 of the disk depressing the beak h2 of the rod h, as above stated. n

If the cyclist forgets to release the control device, that is to say tolower the rod 71., then at the moment the plate CZ reaches the end ofits travel toward :theright (Fig. l), the disk f driven by the plate CZwhich at this moment is fast thereto, `might bend the rod in order toavoid this inconvenience the disk f ceases automatically at this momentto be immobilized, and this is effected in the fol-y lowing manner; theplate l is provided with an eccentric part Z2 so arranged that when thepla-te (Z is at the bottom of its travel toward the right, 'this'eccentric part, projection or cam (Z2, meets a part h3 ofthe rod,cranked at right angles and depresses the beak 71.2 of the rod so thatthe latter no longer `prevents the rotation of the disk f and of thesocket e 61.

The invention thus permits the cyclist, without dismounting from vhismachine, to change, as desired,from free-wheel drive to fixed-wheeldrive, by simple back-pedaling, and inversely K from iXed-wheel drive tofree-wheel drive by continuing to pedal forward while exercising aslight pressure upon a control placed within reach of his hand.

The arrangement serving'to immobilize thevdisk f is shown onlyjby way ofexample and can be replaced by any other suitable control.

rHaving fnow particularly described and 1'05 ascertained the nature ofmysaid invention and in what vmanner the same is to be performed, Ideclare that what I claim is v,

1. An arrangement'applicable to bicycles and permitting to be changed atwill, without descending from the machine, by pedaling in one directionor the other, a freewheel lbicycle pinion into a vliXed wheel pinion,and inversely this arrangement comprising a rmale cone fast to the fiXedportion ofthe lfree-wheel pinion, a female cone fast to the Elooseportion of this free-wheel pinion, aY threadedv socket, normally loose,a plate, participating in the movement of rotation of the loose portionof the free wheel pinion, 120 means for screwing and unscrewing saidplate upon said threaded socket in order to bring the male cone to orseparate it from the female cone progressively-so as to clutch ordeclutch these two cones, and means for momentarily immobilizing saidthreaded socket in order to -permit the'screwing of 'said plate in onedirection or inthe other, according `to whether the cyclist pedals or`back-pec'lals. 1 Y

2. An arrangement applicable to bicycles and permitting to be changed atwill, without descending from the machine, by pedaling in one directionor the other, a freewheel bicycle pinion into a iXed wheel pinion andinversely, this arrangement comprising a male cone fast to the fixedportion of the free-wheel pinion, a female cone fast to the looseportion of this free-wheel pinion, a threaded socket, normally loose, aplate, participating in the movement of rotation of the loose portion ofthe free wheel pinion, means for screwing and unscrewing said plate uponsaid threaded socket in order to bring the male cone to or separate itfrom the female cone progressively-so as to clutch or declutch these twocones, a disk having beaks or teeth thereon fast with this socket, a rodwhich engages with one of the beaks or teeth of said disk, when thecyclist back-pedals,-in such a way as to pass from free-Wheel drive tofixed-Wheel drive,-while in order to obtain the opposite change, thecyclist pedals forward while acting on a control placed within reach ofhis hand, said control bringing then the said rod in engagement withanother tooth on the disk, nearer thalii the other to the axis ofrotation of said dis 3. An arrangement applicable to bicycles andpermitting to be changed at will, with` out descending from the machine,by pedaling in one direction 0r the other, a freewheel bicycle pinioninto a iiXed wheel pinion and inversely this arrangement comprising amale cone fast to the iXed portion of the free-wheel pinion, a femalecone fast to the loose portion of this free-wheel pinion, a threadedsocket, normally loose, a plate participating in the movement ofrotation of the loose portion of the free-wheel pinion, means forscrewing and unscrewing said plate upon said threaded socket in order tobring the male cone to or separate it from the female coneprogressively-so as to clutch or declutch these two cones, a disk havingbeaks or teeth thereon fast with this socket, a rod which engages withone of the beaks or teeth of said disk, when the cyclist back-pedals,-insuch a way as to pass from free-wheel drive to fixed-wheel drive,-whilein order to obtain the opposite change, the cyclist pedals forward whileacting on a control placed within reach of his hand, said controlbringing then the said rod in engagement with another tooth on the disk,nearer than the others to the axis of rotation of said disk, and meansfor automatically disengaging said disk at the moment the pinion returnsto free-wheel drive, in case the cyclist forgets to release the controleffecting the immobilization of the screw-threaded socket which is fastwith the disk.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification.

GASTON HENRY.

Witnesses CHARLES IVRY, H. DEFVRIMONT.

Gopies of this patent may be obtained for ve cents each, by addressingthe Commissioner of latent, Washington, D. C.

